Sensō Rinne (戦争 輪回)
by Luxtes
Summary: He wasn't caught, and that started a war that has lasted almost a decade, all because of one pair of Byakugan eyes on a little girl. AU where Hinata's kidnapping actually went through unnoticed until it was too late, and the changes the war made upon the upbringing of the entire cast.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Naruto. I only own my harebrained plot and my OCs.**

* * *

The intel was wrong.

The density of forces in this area was vastly different from what was reported. This was supposed to be our exfil path, with rotated ninja who were tired from the Kumo frontlines, which came here for lighter duty in order to rest and recover.

This wasn't so. Not at all, instead we had tightened security which left us with ever tightening windows of opportunity to leave undetected, and we carried valuable intelligence taken directly from one of the field commands in the rear-guard of the Kumogakure forces. I had the bulk of it myself; sealed in a tattoo under my forearm guard, as I was the fastest of us should things come to worse.

And come to worse they did.

There was little time to react, really. One minute we were fine, waiting for the next rotation to pass so we could go further on unmolested, however, things quickly devolved as Murphy law decided we had to be its next victims. The next rotation had a sensor, and we, this squad, had a rookie; a rookie that still wasn't the best at supressing his chakra signature.

* * *

I had little time to react before one of them pounced upon my location, swiftly tossing kunai unto the path his leap would take him, and bouncing back those that he had thrown at me with my Tanto.

He was dead before he touched the ground again. But that wasn't the end, there was plenty of them still to fight, plenty of them that we had to get through before the next patrol came.

There were four of us, and eleven of them. A couple seem to have rather large presences, sign of high chakra reserves, so they must be ninjutsu specialists. Not good, those types could throw wide ninjutsu and decimate cover, which would blow our advantage to shreds in moments. I had to take them out.

" _The dark haired jonin on the left and the blonde white male in the center are priority targets,"_ I muttered on the radio as I took cover behind the nearest trunk to avoid direct line of sight. They knew we were here, but if they can't see you they can't hit you, _"scatter and take them down, move."_

And so I leaped to the left, into the shadow of another canopy, while the rest of the team followed along. I wasn't the leader here; however, priority calls were always obeyed in ANBU. It didn't matter who called them, only that they were followed. If they weren't, someone would always die, and in the middle of war, no one wanted to.

As if choreographed, we exploded into action; Monkey blasted out of a canopy to my three o'clock with a hail of shuriken thrown, rushing in a low stance towards his closest target. Horse blasted from my nine, up high and spitting fire into the centre of the enemy formation. The enemy scattered and Bird rushed towards priority target one, the dark haired, tall man who obviously lead this squad, and so I decided the other target would be my own.

I snapped into action, with a Shunshin towards the blonde jonin in a high stance, Tanto in my hands, purposefully leaving an opening on my left side as bait for the seemingly hardened Shinobi. He ate the bait.

Civilians have a misconception about Shinobi battles. They believe it is this drawn out encounter where they give their all, spend all their chakra, and have witty banter in-between the trading of blows. There's nothing further from the truth.

The simple things get you killed. Speaking gets you killed. The slightest distraction, the smallest mistake, and your throat will be slit, voice never to be heard again. He took a swing, and I dodged left, Tanto sweeping down with speed belying my build. I was lithe, and an experienced practitioner of Kenjutsu, and while I knew nothing of the skills of my opponent, it wouldn't matter soon. A deep gash was left, and a groan escaped the man. I broke into his guard and attempted to ensure the kill with a broken neck, but his reaction was unexpected. You see, normally when someone scores a cut as deep as this, you would attempt to break off and flank, or if it isn't possible, then disengage. However, what this man did was the complete opposite. He charged me.

A grunt escaped me; soft voice muffled by the mask on my face, the deer pattern was splattered by the blood which escaped the arm now pushing hard against my armour covered chest. The other hand held a kunai, which was swiftly moving towards my kidney, I acted fast, and my hand shot towards the wrist, fist knocking it away effectively before punching the man in the throat, a step forward, and my knee was being driven into his gut with the force of all my muscles. Proper form brings real strength; chakra enhancement makes it even more deadly. A rib or two fractured beneath my knee, the chest cavity giving in to the force that suddenly overwhelmed it, and the man managed a last ditch attempt to end me while my Tanto neared his throat.

Blood escaped my shoulder as a kunai was stuck into it, driven rather deep. The wound would not be fatal lest the weapon be poisoned, but this was Kumo. Poison was not common in their weaponry.

The blade found its mark, and the man's life was no more.

 _"_ _Monkey is down,"_ chirped the radio bead on my ear, as I moved towards the next target, only seconds after I first engaged the blond now dead a few paces behind me. Shinobi battles, and Shinobi deaths, were always quick.

 _"_ _Proceed with caution,"_ I muttered, and traded blows with another man, this one holding a sword, I feinted left and proceeded with a upwards slash aimed for his chest, the man parried and I lashed out with my fist into his throat, unbalancing him and then slashed his chest horizontally, blood gushing out strongly as his stomach no longer held his innards. He jumped back, disengaging, and I threw a kunai his way while I dashed to the right, where another Kumo nin was engaged with Horse. Horse was a ninjutsu specialist, while her close combat prowess was respectable; she wasn't as used to it as me. I promptly arrived, and the man now faced with two opponents didn't last much longer.

Then there was a snarling woman accompanied by a broad, dark skinned man leaping upon me. Horse and I reacted fast, however they came from behind. I parried the woman as quickly and efficiently as I could, kunai coming uncomfortably close to my neck as her other hand held a piece of paper, possibly a paralyzing tag, and was fast approaching my injured shoulder.

Then the tag was upon me, and the woman was soon dead as my counter came through, her single-minded focus proving to be her undoing as the force threw her off and my Tanto stabbed her in the spine.

But it wasn't a paralyzing tag.

My chakra coils were burning like no tomorrow.

I wasted no time in ripping it away, but the damage was done. Injured shoulder, fucked up chakra coils on my left arm? That meant no hand seals at all, and limited me to one armed Tanto stances, which wasn't good for our current situation; however it was soon over, as the radio crackled anew, " _All targets down,"_ came Horse's voice, _"We lost Bird and Monkey; disposing of bodies now."_

It was a sad outcome, but it was reality. This was how things were, and taken by surprise on three to one odds? Horse and I were lucky to have made it out alive. Those two did the bulk of the work in saving our lives. I made a mental note to visit the Memorial Stone when their names were added.

The disposing was done swiftly, and after I searched the downed Kumo shinobi as quickly as possible for Intel, we sealed the bodies into scrolls and took off like bats out of hell. We only had a few minutes before the next patrol came, and if we were lucky and quick enough, they might not even catch us.

Thankfully our luck held.

* * *

Hours later, we filtered into the closest outpost of allied forces. The priority was to locate a Yamanaka in order to relay the critical intel, and if not possible, then haul ass back onto the path to Konoha itself. After Horse left to do so, least injured of us, I proceeded to where I was told the resident medic was located.

"Sit there, Deer-san," she said, and pointed at a rackety chair next to a supply cabinet, which I assumed held all kinds of medicines you would find in the front. I sat, and she proceeded to hover nearby; "Where?" she asked, knowing she wouldn't get any details as to how. The mask entitled us to secrecy even towards medics, as our ops were to remain unknown, and any identifying injuries were taboo. I pointed towards my left shoulder, the one that had gotten stabbed, and then trailed my finger down the arm attached to it, knowing there would be something wrong with my coils.

She slowly approached, standard procedure with jumpy ANBU, and then performed a diagnosis, the glowing palm matching what I expected in colour and sensation. Had it not, the medic would have died swiftly, as the kunai tightly held in my right hand belied.

It took about thirty seconds, before she stepped back with a concerned frown in her face. Her pale blond hair did nothing to cover the slight creasing of her forehead as lines formed in an expression of deep thought, just what I fucking needed.

"Speak;" I croaked out, and she snapped to swiftly, the medic – Chunin, I absently noted, - knowing it was best to just get it over with.

"Your coils have shrunk, from your elbow down… as if something was shrivelling them to die," she seemed to regard it with caution; "Only fuuinjutsu can do something like that." She punctuated, and I kept quiet. The reasons of injuries should never be admitted to.

However, we both knew that was what it was, and she noted that while there were no traces of anything that could worsen the situation, I would have to report this to my superiors and await further orders.

There was only one thing that happens when you report a debilitating injury to your superiors. My sister was going to be so pissed…

* * *

Horse had no luck in locating a Yamanaka clan member. Apparently, the guard shift had just rotated and the replacement was behind schedule, which meant either dead or otherwise occupied; conflicting orders sometimes happened, other times it was just the traces of an infiltrator that managed to get to us, confusing the orders in the chain and obfuscating details that could be critical. After all, the enemy only needed a few seconds to turn a battle into a slaughter, and if there is no guard for a long stretch of time… you can be sure there's going to be a trap waiting.

War was hell.

And so, we were back on our way, as quickly as we came, about ten minutes or less of dallying as my old Captain would call it. The road was uneventful, and the home stretch felt so much shorter than the way out. I wish it hadn't.

* * *

The place was brightly lit. You'd expect from a top secret, underground military complex housing shinobi who literally lived in the shadows to be a dim, shadowy place with darkened corners where dangers would lurk, but it was quite the opposite in fact. Grey walls, with light stripes every few paces on both sides, provided enough illumination that no one would find any cover in corridors, making it easier to spot infiltrators.

Most of the place was rather featureless, as agents weren't encouraged to 'leave their mark' as some would say, there weren't any personal touches in the barracks aside from your gear, and the change of clothes you would take with yourself given the rare chance of going off duty without your mask.

Given that the majority of agents were in fact of Chunin or Jonin rank, albeit with the rare case of freshly off the academy recruits, that change of clothes was commonly just a different uniform; practicality at its finest.

My musings were cut short upon reaching my destination, the door that changed every three days, or two depending on if the commander wanted to, I quote, 'confuse any potential leaks'; where a conversation awaited me that would decide my immediate future. Military life does that to you, where you have so many things that are chosen for you, without your input. Thankfully, such things only happened when you just weren't suitable for what you did anymore. I gulped.

I wasn't suitable for infiltration duties anymore, not for a few months at least.

I knocked, and the gruff voice, muffled by both a mask and the wooden door replied in kind; "Step inside and state your business;" no time would be wasted. Should I be an intruder, I would be beheaded upon stepping through, everyone in ANBU knew this. As such, I went inside without any fear, and knew my commander had also no problems with me doing so when my head remained in my shoulders.

"Deer, here for debrief." I stated promptly, upon setting myself in the rigid at attention stance widely used in Konoha, "Permission to retrieve the documents, sir."

"Granted;" was the answer, and so I quickly unlatched my gauntlet and applied chakra – fucking wonky, this is depressing – to the tattooed storage seal in my wrist. Scrolls tumbled out, two of them, which contained no less than the movement patterns of the patrols in the entire front they were liberated from, and which units were due for reinforcement, their numbers and when, along with their location. It was strategic gold, but only valid for a few days at most. Our infiltration would be noticed quicker due to the skirmish, as such, the time to act was now. I settled them down on the desk where upon the commander sat, and spoke; "Priority is Alpha three," the code for urgent and short term validity, "A skirmish was had. Twelve confirmed KIA Kumo nin, we identified three as Jonin," and here I racked my head again, trying to remember any specific details of the encounter, finding none aside from the recounting of my injuries, and the passing of two of our team mates, "Monkey and Bird are confirmed KIA, bodies were recovered and destroyed on the spot. We then hauled ass after clearing the area as best as possible, but the skirmish should be noted within the next ten hours at most."

The man nodded, mask concealing any reaction to my words, "anything further to report?"

"Sir, I… I received an incapacitating injury;" I gulped anew, and then continued, "some sort of seal tag was latched onto my forearm and my coils burned like liquid fire, my chakra control in that arm is now… not fit for duty. I can't perform any jutsu that requires hand seals I can't perform one-handed."

That was short for _my fucking left arm is now useless_ , and the commander nodded his head. We both knew what it meant, and then he spoke; "you understand what procedure is, you're relieved until you are back to one hundred percent;" it was succinct and truthful, "I'm reassigning you to the sixth corps with effective rank of Jonin, congratulations operative, you're getting R&R."

Rest and relaxation… Yeah, right.

"You may take off your mask, Deer." That wasn't a suggestion; it was an order, so I complied, revealing hazel eyes and high cheekbones, the somewhat aristocratic features that were characteristic of me and my twin growing up.

"I will inform your sister, Rinne; worry not." He nodded his head again, and then continued, "report to the Hokage for further instructions, I expect you'll be put in charge of a pack of runts," a sharp chuckle left him, and with a final nod he dismissed me.

I left headquarters in my uniform not five minutes later.

Again, my sister is going to be so mad at me.

* * *

Finally, it was graduation day.

You'd think that having this life forced upon me because of whom I was, and where I was born, would bother me. But surprisingly, it didn't, in fact it only made it feel right. I thrived in the Shinobi arts, I was talented. Everyone said I should have graduated early, but it was never allowed. No, it was decided long ago that seeing the psychological results of doing that were extremely negative, no child should graduate as a killer. The age was fixed as twelve, ever since a few years prior to the start of the war. Today was graduation day, not very long before my thirteenth birthday, and I would finally have the fruits of my hard work.

I'd be a Genin now, and legally an adult, I'd get to have a team to treat like family, like father does to his. I'd get to have a sensei to trust with my life, to teach me how to best make sure I stay alive, and to help me become better than I already was.

I brushed my blonde hair for the hundredth time, finishing the session after a quick few minutes, last preparations on course to take the final exam, the one that would determine if we were really worth spending resources on.

I slipped on my boots, checked my leg mesh armour for a proper fit, checked the pockets of my utility skirt for all that would be needed, its grey colour calming, its contents as familiar to me as my hands. The back pouch was in place, shuriken holster snugly on my left leg. My cropped top and mesh chest armour were both in place, greyish blue matching the colour of my eyes, blonde hair set in a pony-tail to keep it out of the way. Everything was ready.

Ino Yamanaka became a shadow today.

* * *

 **This plot bunny wouldn't let me write anything else, how fun, right? The Naruto world is rather disappointing. There's so much more that could be done with it, yet Kishi did nothing of the sort. I get it, he had to keep it underage friendly, and I suppose there were demands to keep it family friendly as well BUT, we have to remember this is a world of trained killers, starting from the age of eight and beyond. Assasination missions are the bread and butter of higher ranking shinobi, and of course any bandits that genins encounter are to be put down. I only want to bring this out, since it's a shame how much of a grimdark world this could be (I adore grimdark), and the truth is for being a military autocracy, there's little of that being seen in canon, which I also intend to fix.**

 **Rant over, please proceed with your day and have a good one.**

 **PS: Feedback is love.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm bad at writing consistently, please excuse me.**

* * *

 **7 a.m.; March 11** **th** **209**

 **Hokage Building**

 **戦争** **輪回** **(Rinne)**

This office.

Every single time I've set foot in this office, something has changed dramatically in my life.

This time it would be no different.

Tight pants, short sleeved shirt, flak jacket, hair in a tight bun. Headband on the neck, blocking access to vital points, pouches on both legs, and two on the back; general orders in village demanded war gear to be prepared at all times, for all corps.

In case of sudden invasion, that was. It had happened before.

I knocked, and received confirmation to step inside; the guards, "cleverly" hidden, all looked at me with amusement. I had wiped the floor with half of these bastards, but they were still wearing the masks and I wasn't. Bugger.

"I've been expecting you;" he began, and quickly sorted out from a stack, three folders.

My runts.

"Sir." I nodded, and stepped forward to review the folders given to me. Instead of handing them over, however, the Kage opened them one by one on the desk, and laid them down in front of me.

Full profile of those I would babysit displayed, I showed little curiosity, as no matter what I said, I would have to take them under my wing. War left us with no right to refuse students.

I wasn't even three years older than these kids.

"Your specialty is known to me, your corps holds no secrets to the Kage, as you know." He unnecessarily explained, and then continued, "These three have shown proficiency in it, in different ways, and have traits that you should be able to mold into perfect infiltrators."

He nodded, and I answered in kind, closing my hazel eyes in acceptance. Closing your eyes in front of other shinobi is the uttermost show of trust and loyalty. You don't close your eyes to other killers.

"Failure is not an option, Rinne."

I knew this; "Failure is never an option, Sir."

"Good." He assented, "Two of them are fresh from the academy, the other one is a straggler. Her team was KIA at the border three days ago, and she has just returned. Not much experience, and only two months of training, you can reshape her as you see fit."

"Any particulars, Sir? Has psychological clearance been given, yet?" This was an important detail. Combat always left its mark on you, and combat where you lost teammates, even more.

Anyone likely to break down in the middle of a mission was a liability, and you cannot have those with you.

"As of one hour ago, Jonin Sensoo."

I nodded, and took the folders with me.

Sarutobi Asuka, Uzumaki Naruto, and Yamanaka Ino.

Two blondes and a fucking monkey; I shook my head as I walked away.

* * *

 **7:15am, March 11** **th** **209**

 **Shinobi Academy**

 **山中伊** **野** **(Ino)**

It had already begun. Target practice had taken place, where everyone scored as expected. Wartime gave us no laxity, those who had made it this far were expected to pass with flying colours. Some said that skill wise, we should be close to equal to our Chunin instructors, albeit they weren't frontline combatants and thus not as strong as they could be, they were after all deserving of their ranks. The time they had in service allowed them to still easily trounce us, despite how skilled all of us were at this point.

And it was against them we measured up now.

The tests were rather simplistic in nature, there was no written exam as civilians might expect, it was considered a waste of time by the administration, and knowledge was tested face to face _during_ the other examinations. You had to demonstrate awareness of information that you must know by this point, while completing the challenges set upon you.

I had to recite half of the shinobi laws set in place for behaviour amongst nationals of Konoha while shooting targets at a sprint. Iruka was very amused.

It was time now for ninjutsu evaluations, and you were to perform all that was reported you knew, and nothing more.

Showing off actually got you disqualified for duty.

It was a short matter, really, as all present executed their techniques with the ease of ample practice, including myself, and the supposed dunce of the cohort. Naruto.

He was an odd one, truly. Father had always said that he was special, but never specified why. I did not ask, we are raised knowing that we only know what we must and nothing more, for our own safety. If you know too much, you are a target.

Now it was combat test, but it wasn't against each other as you would expect. There was no competition for top spot, and there was no worse of the lot. The graduating cohorts were graded at all times as a group, as would be in the corps, and were considered to be as weak as its weakest link.

Training each other was encouraged, to not say enforced.

"Yamanaka, front and centre;" the order came, and so I complied. Discipline was enforced from the ground up, as we were to become military.

"Adopt stance, Yamanaka," and so I did, a loose taijutsu stance designed to allow maximum mobility, as opposed to the rigid stance my instructor had taken, and that most of my cohort mates had adopted.

I didn't like it, because you couldn't move fast enough to surprise your enemy. I was all about sucker punching the one who could kill me at any time possible.

I took the offensive with a quick dash, however I stopped short and dropped low, in a sweeping kick meant to make my instructor back away or jump up, either way would work fine for me.

Weapons were allowed in these spars, and two kunai had already found their way to my hands as I rose up from my crouch, one to deflect, and one to toss back at the Chunin whom had leaped back and thrown a kunai at me.

The deflection was textbook and the kunai clattered against the ground, muted sounds masked by louder ones made by the exertions on the other three combats taking place at the same time as mine. Stray weapons were of no concern, as if you were struck by one you would have survived no time at all in a battlefield, as such, your attention had to be not only in your instructor, but also your surroundings.

It was the most efficient training tactic they had come up with so far.

Another kunai thrown at me and the instructor rushed ahead, his form would have blurred to civilians, but I was not one.

I could see him as clearly as he could see me, my eyes used to tracking fast movements at this point, six years of everyday training, six years of becoming a trained killer of other trained killers, had done their job in preparing me for this day.

Too much thinking.

We closed step, him lashing out and me dodging away, my form flowing while his was steady and stiff, rigid, but I knew he was holding back still.

His mistake.

I lashed out at one side, in a feint, knowing what his reaction would be. He grabbed the leg I had thrown in a side kick, aimed at his ribs, and I used his hold to lever myself into a spin, axe kick headed straight to the temple of my opponent.

Impact happened, and he was dazed. It was only for two seconds, but that was all I needed.

As I dropped to my feet again, free of his grasp, his slight flailing as he was off balance gave me all the time I needed to seize his arm and punch him deep in the armpit, forcing paralysis, then applied a submission hold on his arm.

My Kunai was at his throat not long after.

The whole fight only took thirty seconds.

* * *

 **9 a.m.**

 **Shinobi Academy**

 **山中伊** **野** **(Ino)**

No one failed the tests.

As was expected of every cohort, everybody passed with flying colours, and all were now being read the list of team assignment, which had been prepared beforehand with the prospected graduates.

The moment we all killed our pets, they knew we were ready.

It might seem brutal to civilians, but this was the best way of detaching future soldiers of what they would have to do in the lines. Training included raising a pet of our own, that was to be fed and watered from our own supplies, meaning, you took food off your plate to feed your pet.

The endgame was to kill said pet, or you would not graduate. You had to stab it through the eye in front of your instructors, in order to gain clearance to present yourself at the tests of today.

Clan kids knew of this beforehand, like me, it was far harsher for civilian raised ones. But it was a good wake-up call for what we would become. There is no place for squeamish people in the battlefield.

"Team seven; Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba, Uchiha Sasuke;" loud cheers were heard from the pink haired girl, the one whom I had befriended before, the one I years later judged to be unfit for this life. She believed I would find myself interested in boys at this point, which was farther from the truth as could be… I was only interested in staying alive.

She was prepared, as we all were, but I still think she will get eaten alive the moment she steps into the war. Too busy looking at Sasuke's butt.

"You will be under Hatake Kakashi, expect to wait at least three hours for him to pick you up," protests were attempted but swiftly ignored by Iruka, who continued ahead while glaring straight at the pink haired girl.

Discipline reasserted itself in her seconds later, mouth shut and attentiveness back where it belonged.

"Team Eight, Sarutobi Asuka, Uzumaki Naruto, Yamanaka Ino;" he droned, and my ears perked up, noting that the first member of my team was the one integrated into this cohort after her team was wiped out. Interesting.

"You're under Sensoo Rinne. I don't know this Jonin, so be as respectful as you should be and hope things work out in your favour."

I nodded, and then tuned off while pretending to remain as attentive as possible.

A Jonin your instructor doesn't know means black ops.

* * *

 **9:45am**

 **Shinobi Academy**

 **戦争** **輪回** **(Rinne)**

I went in through the last window, right side of the class hall where my runts would be at, and nobody noticed my entrance. I was standing there, watching the kids get picked up for about twenty minutes, by fellow Jonin.

Some of them I had seen in Ansatsu Butai before, others I had never met, and yet others I had met in outposts. Most of them had been rotated back from the frontlines and arrived back in the village yesterday, like I did.

Now we had kids of our own.

I was only fourteen, and expected to shape up twelve year olds into as close of clones of me as I could, I truly was not prepared for this. But orders were orders.

I had already picked out where my now students were sitting, waiting for my appearance, unknowing that I was already there. The only ones who had set their eyes on me were the Jonin that came and went, who kept quiet about it. You don't expose your comrades.

"Sarutobi, Yamanaka, Uzumaki!" I bellowed after drawing a breath, drawing their attention immediately, along with everyone else in the room's.

The Genin were flabbergasted, the Chunin were surprised, and the Jonin that was just leaving smirked in mischief. I would laugh at you one day aswell, Genma.

"You have one minute to get onto the roof, I will time you. Should you not make it, you won't like the results. Time!"

There was only three stories between us and the roof, and I shunshined there, keeping mental track of the ticking of seconds. Timekeeping was an essential skill that you mastered early, and never forgot.

It was the 52nd mark when they all got into formation in front of me, in the north east corner of the building.

"You're slow." I declared, and they all looked at me, one of them had outrage in his eyes, Naruto, but kept quiet. The other two just seemed expectant, waiting for what came next; "We will fix that." I addressed

"Now, I know your names, and I know some of what you can do. I have files on you, I know where you live, what you do every day, where you go, everything I need to know to stalk you until the end of the earth." I attempted a little intimidation tactic, I wasn't much taller than them, but my presence was certainly imposing, "However, I do not know you, and that needs fixing."

Their expressions varied by both sentences, all of them were filled with anxiety as, they all knew by now, information was power in the shinobi world, and I had everything on them whilst they had nothing on me, but the next sentence reminded them that I was now their mentor, and that I was legally not allowed to harm them or face execution. Harm them outside of actual combat training, that is.

"Introduce yourselves, runts, and give me anything you think is relevant," I encouraged, hoping they would see through the little test I was giving them. You don't give the enemy information, you fight tooth and nail for every bit of it. If they refrained from giving it to allies, then they would certainly not to enemies.

Naruto did not get the hint.

"Alright, sensei!" His voice was bright, and he seemed to be in a good mood, rather excited in fact. Perhaps he put really high faith in me as a teacher? "I am Uzumaki Naruto, I like Ramen, I dislike the time it takes to cook instant ramen, and Sasuke, and my dream is to become Hokage!"

I nodded, and turned to look at the other blonde expectantly. She met my stare evenly.

"Yamanaka Ino, you know this already. I'm twelve, and I like many things. I dislike many things, and my dream is to get old."

I had to smile at this one. She was pretty smart.

"I'm Asuka. I like my staff, I don't hate anything, and my dream is to fight with Enma like Sandaime-sama does," the Sarutobi clan member nodded her head, indicating she was finished, and then they all looked at me, expecting me to do the same.

I sighed, and carried on if only to just get it over with.

"I'm Jonin Sensoo, my first name is Rinne, if you call me that I will slap you in the head, maintain discipline at all times. My likes and dislikes are none of your business, and my current objective is to train you three up enough to not die in five seconds. Satisfied?"

"No," Ino butted in, and I smirked, having a thirst for intel was always good in what would become their line of work. My line of work.

"Too bad," I fired back, "Since I'm the senior officer I get to choose what to tell, and what to ask, you kids had better just do as I say if you want to learn… and we start now. No time to lose."

"Orders?" She was quick in the uptake, this blonde, I liked her already.

"Training field nine, you have fifteen minutes. You won't go home for three days, so better psyche yourself up for that." I quickly examined them, looking at their get ups, and only two of them had enough space to have rations with her as of right now. Funny, it was the two girls.

Guess I'd have to teach this kid from scratch entirely after all.

"War gear at all times, Uzumaki. Where are your rations?"

"Hehe, sensei… I didn't think that applied to academy students. I don't have them with me." He scratched the back of his head and looked at me nervously, as if afraid of getting rebuked. I sadly would have to do so.

"That's a grave mistake, Genin. Rule one of all corps, when in doubt about orders, do them anyway. It will save you a lot of headaches, literally this time." I looked at him seriously, "We are spending three days in a forest together, and I won't allow you to hunt. You will leave no traces, no one can know we were there, so you will only eat from what you brought."

I let that sink in for a moment, and then continued; "You have nothing on you. And I'm not giving you time to correct it. Let's go!"

I nodded my head back and jumped off to the street, and they followed, then I ran towards the closest building and leaped up, onto the rooftops, and shouted at them, "Remember, fifteen minutes! Better be there!"

* * *

 **If something doesn't make sense to you, please ask me in the reviews or a PM, I will be happy to discuss it with you.**


	3. Playing Hide and Seek

**Many thanks to Emma Raye for betaing duties.**

 **Here we go again.**

* * *

 _10:14am_

 _March 11th 209_

 _Training Field number 9_

 _戦争 輪回 (Rinne)_

They all got here by the 14th minute mark, which was just fine, if a bit on the slow side. They had promise.

The point of this exercise was to see how resourceful they could be, this wasn't our assigned training field and we of course were not supposed to be here. It was a forested area, with varied clearings that contained training posts, a river flowing throughout a large portion of it, and the tree cover was thick and plentiful, perfect for overhead observation from the canopies.

Many people forget to look up.

They were going to camp here, for three days, while remaining undetected by the other team, and, if they could manage it, their Jonin instructor. If they could fool him, they would get extra credit from me.

Not that I was hopefully for that, really.

"We stay here, kids." I nodded to them, and then continued; "Tomorrow there will be a team arriving. We are not supposed to be here when they arrive."

I threw my gaze around them, reading into their features, seeing if any of them caught onto what I was referring to. I received blank stares.

So, I tried again.

"In fact, we are not supposed to be here at all. Can you tell me why?"

Naruto raised his hand as if in a classroom, a grin creeping out onto his face as he waved it around. Silly, but effective; I nodded at him to continue.

"This isn't our training ground! Right, sensei? We're team eight, and this is field nine…" I nodded as response, and his grin brightened.

"We are going to have a little exercise of discretion. As I already told you, you are ordered to remain in this forest for seventy two hours, you are further ordered to remain undetected for that time period." I looked at all of them again, noting their assent to the instructions. Their nods were welcome difference to the blank stares from earlier.

"For now, we will train, I need to get a proper grasp on what you can and cannot do. If you can't do something you should be able to, then why. Is there anything not reported that you can do? I'm now basically your mother, and I need to plan accordingly. You don't want to die just because you didn't tell me something."

Naruto, who had perked up considerably before, now looked slightly downtrodden, while Ino smirked with a superior look. Seems she was hiding something.

Meanwhile, Asuka began; "I can tree walk and waterwalk, sensei, Homura-sensei taught us before…"

"I understand." And I meant it. I had also lost one of my mentors early on, albeit it was a different situation, the bond is always the same. You end up looking at them as family.

Despite talking to the person in front of me, I heard a voice that I shouldn't have. I was looking straight at its only possible source, but there was no lip movement detected, and my eyes were nothing if not sharp.

"This far ahead already, Ino?" She seemed to have no struggle at all projecting her voice into my mind, which I knew was one of the advanced Yamanaka techniques used for long range communication.

"What is your range?"

Her smirk lessened at this, but she continued, physically rather than psychically now.

"Thirty meters, sensei, but I'm working on it."

I nodded, and then looked at Naruto again, who seemed to have nothing to show. As expected, a lot of people treated the kid as if he had no future. I knew he was ignored by many in the village, bad karma for them surely.

I gave him another moment to speak up, but he kept quiet.

"Very well. For these three days, I will be evaluating your skills, not only in combat, but overall. Shinobi are to stay hidden and engage in combat only when necessary."

The way they eagerly nodded and grinned made me almost feel bad for the explaining the next part of the training. Almost.

"You kids are not going to get any sleep until I say so, you won't eat until I say so, and you will hide until I say so."

"Why, sensei?" perked up Asuka, her first question since I had picked them up.

"Endurance training."

Shinobi had to work with little hours of sleep and long periods of activity. They had to be ready for that. I glanced at them for a brief moment for any lingering questions.

"Scatter and hide. If I find you I'm going to hit you. If you're too obvious, I'm going to hit you twice."  
I nodded, and they chorused a 'Yes, sensei!' as they scattered. I gave them some time, exactly a hundred seven seconds, before I began looking for them.

I walked while they ran, and I tried very hard not to just sense where they were.  
I failed for Naruto, he was such a large chakra beacon that I don't know how he would be fit for anywhere the enemy had sensors, but perhaps if I taught him well enough, he wouldn't have the presence of a thousand exploding seals.

I decided to go for him last.

* * *

 _10:28 a.m._

 _Training Field 9, deeply forested area_

 _山中伊野 (Ino)_

It's been exactly eleven minutes since sensei told us to hide from her. I knew it was dumb to try, but I did it anyway. You aren't supposed to refuse orders from your sensei, even if they don't make sense, right?

It was obvious she could track us. She expected to find us; she just wanted us to not be too obvious about where we were. From a Jonin that meant you had to be clever enough another Genin couldn't find you, and a Chunin could have a hard time. I guess we would all get at least two smacks today.

Honestly, the surroundings were ideal for this practice, there was plenty of nooks and crannies where you could stick yourself inside and pretend to be part of the trees, but that's where you would expect Konoha shinobi to be. That's where she would look for us first, so I knew that was off.

I couldn't bury myself underground without leaving a glaring patch of disturbed dirt. On the forest in the middle of spring there were barely any fallen leaves to obfuscate it, so even if I could hold my breath underground, it wouldn't be an option.

That left the river, and it had bamboo growths. I had needles to pierce one into a tube to breathe with, so I could hide in the shallow water near the growths. Perfect.

Finding the right bamboo stick took a few seconds, but afterward it was child's play to adapt it to my needs. Any traces of my cuts I made sure to throw into the water, then push down into the soft dirt of the river bed. I wouldn't be called out by silly mistakes. I was Ino for kami's sake; best genin in this village. She wouldn't find me first.

I dumped myself in, back first and closed my eyes. My lips were tightly squeezed around the bamboo tube, and the surface of the water obscured me perfectly. There was only about a meter of depth, but the dim lighting of the forest helped me tremendously. If there had been direct sunlight, the water would have never been an option at all.

It was time to wait, then.

* * *

 _10:39 a.m._

 _Training field 9, deeply forested area_

 _戦争 輪回 (Rinne)_

I really tried not to stumble upon them fast at all, I promise, but I just happened to literally do so into Asuka. She had hidden herself in a tight nook resting above, where trees had grown close together and formed a darkened plateau, it would have been a rather good hiding spot if not for those few branches that had fallen to the ground. It wasn't normal since this forest had no wild life large enough to cause them.

I decided to scare her a little, and walked ahead as if I had noticed nothing.

Once I was out of sight it was game time.

A couple of swift dashes was all it took, two seconds in total, before I was standing behind her in the plateau. I was close enough to hear her sigh of relief when she thought she had gotten through undiscovered. I almost felt bad about what I was about to do.

Almost, but not quite.

I leaned in close to her, close enough that I could hear her faint breathing, and even then, she hadn't discovered I was there. I brushed ever closer, lips almost to her ears, and vocalized.

"Boo..."

It wasn't a bellow, and it definitely wasn't a shout, it was more of a whisper, but to her it must have sounded like the howl of a hunting wolf for all the speed she jumped away with. Instincts acted first, she knew my voice but the fright was greater than rationality, as such she lashed out with a kunai. I leaned out of the way, child's play.

"Sensei!" she shouted, labored breathing from the fright making her hunch "Did you _have_ to do that?"

"I did," and nodded, then motioned for her to follow me.

She did without any complaints.

* * *

 _10:52am_

 _Training field 9, Deeply forested area_

 _山中伊野 (Ino)_

The wait was rather... boring. There were so many better things that we could be doing with our time than hiding from our sensei. I mean, sure, it was training in a way and if we could hide from her we could hide from anyone. However... did we really have to do this? There were a few things I wanted to work on, particularly close combat.

I hated getting blood on myself, so I wondered if she knew any other forms to avoid that.  
Not only that, but god, blood on my hair was the worst thing that could possibly happen. It took forever to take it out once it dried, and there would never be enough time to take it out before it did, especially not in the field. So, what could I do other than ask sensei if she knew a way to stop that from happening?

It might be vain, but a girl has to have some thoughts different to the best way to slit a throat in close quarters, or rather what stab points were lethal and which merely debilitating for a shinobi.

Breathing through a little tube was also irritating, as was keeping my eyes closed, and holy shit the amount of water my hair was absorbing was disgusting. I would be dripping tracks everywhere if I decided to change spots, so I was now effectively stuck in here if I didn't want to be found. There was also an unpleasant amount of mud that would stick to my pouch after I got out... at least the rations were waterproof, so I wouldn't have to eat soggy, bland bars. Only bland bars.

Not a massive improvement, but one nonetheless.

I had been in here for about... twenty minutes. I wonder if any of my team mates had gotten caught yet. Probably. I'm torn; I don't know if I want to be found now, or found last. My competitive bone definitely wants to be the last one standing, so to speak, but the little girl in me just wants out of this stupid pond. At the very least it was refreshing, and she would probably expect me to have used the river to hide my smell track rather than hide inside of it. So, I had that as an advantage.

Except, there was a hand now clasped firmly to my left ankle, with no way to pull out of it. I really didn't want to anyway, it would only prolong this tedious exercise. This could only be sensei.

She pulled out upside down, my hair flopped down uncovering my eye and the tail was long enough to still touch the water. I pouted, but I also saw Asuka there, so I wasn't first. Good enough for me.  
Sensei smiled. "Clever, clever, if I hadn't felt your chakra presence I wouldn't have found you. That's a good one, Ino."

I felt myself grinning, I had almost had her fooled.

"Thank you, sensei! I wanted to be the last one standing, though..."

She coughed lightly. "Technically, you are. I've known where Naruto has been the whole time, he has so much chakra he sticks out to my senses no matter where he goes. Teaching him how to hide it will be such a drag..."

Then she dropped me back into the water, head first, and I managed to flip enough to land in my bum rather than my face. I threw a slight scowl at her while I rinsed my ponytail before I was standing up.

She motioned for me to follow, so I did.

Finding Naruto was actually a really quick affair, albeit he was inside a tree, so I definitely wouldn't have found him myself. However, sensei decided to scare him by punching through the bark to shower him in splinters. I'm not sure if she hit him or not, but when he came out he looked so frightened that I couldn't help but laugh.

Then she pulled out a length of rope and tied it between two trees, and told Asuka to hop on it and balance, while she tied up another. I guessed there would also be one for me.

I wasn't wrong.

Naruto was surprisingly the first to fall off once he was on it, he lasted entirely about two seconds before losing his balance and dropping face-first to the dirt. My mirth at witnessing that caused me to be next, while Asuka wobbled herself into a stupor trying to stay on it.

"If you kids can't stay on these, then I'll make them thinner, grab yourselves with your chakra, focus it to your feet, and do your best to stay upright," She said, and then she smirked.  
"If I see you tilt, I'm going to throw a rock at you, and if you get hit by it you're going to fall. So, please tilt, I could use some entertainment."

"Sadist…" I muttered under my breath, though I knew she would hear me. There was a rock headed straight towards me. I did dodge, thankfully, but I didn't manage to stay in my rope either.

Getting back up on it was the worst part.

You see, when you try to stand on a rope it's nothing like standing in a piece of wood, at least that is flat, and you don't have to fight its elasticity. This length of rope, while it was taught, was loose enough to wobble the moment you tilted your weight to the sides. She wanted us to run Katas up here? And then in even thinner ones? Mental, she was mental.

I loved the way she thought already.

Keep your balance on these and there is no way you're going to lose it in a fight, which was exactly what I wanted to work on. Perfect.

It still took me a long time to be able to throw a punch while on this, and also a few hits of rocks, though nowhere near as many as Naruto.

* * *

 _15:22_

 _Training Field number 9_

 _戦争 輪回 (Rinne)_

The day went past rather quickly. They eventually all managed to stay on their feet on the rope enough to manage simple punches and kicks, but any complex movements were still beyond them. My demonstration of what could be done, while on a coil of barely detectable ninja wire, left them awed. I assured I would get them to that level before I was done with them, at the very least.

As of now, I had them crunching out as many push-ups as they could do, as fast as they could; upper body strength was incredibly important for us after all. After they all dropped to exhaustion, I would have them spar. Then, Naruto and Ino would start learning how to tree walk.  
It had been a good day as far as I was concerned.

Ino and Asuka eventually stopped, but Naruto looked like he could keep going all day. That wouldn't be good for the other two, so he had to stop right about now… I'll have to facilitate it.

"Naruto, enough." It was a crisp command, and he obeyed rather quickly, looking rather proud when he realized the other two had stopped already.

"All of you, free for all, no weapons, begin… now!"

It took them a few seconds to get the hint. The first one to react was Asuka, who headed straight towards Ino. Ino, however, just ran past her and aimed in the general direction of Naruto. He still hadn't reacted to my orders, so he just barely dodged, and it only devolved into a brawl from there.

Watching this was actually pretty fun, no wonder my instructor always had us doing this. Works for them to learn, entertains me a lot.

Ooh, that was a nasty kick, Asuka! Naruto was now staggering back; he had been hit in the plexus with a straight kick that could rock anyone's core. Now, Ino was focusing on Asuka while he reeled himself back into snuff. While Ino looked like she was dancing, Asuka bounced on the balls of her feet and seemed overall like a monkey. She was Sarutobi after all, so she was using their style of quick movements and quick footwork to her advantage.

Seeing them play to their strengths was nice for me, indeed, and very motivating.

These kids could make themselves great anywhere they wanted, but they were mine now, so they would be the best at what I did. Everything else would just be on the side.

So, this is what it feels like to teach a pack of brats, huh?

Can't say I can complain.


End file.
